Saudi Crown Prince Boasted That Jared Kushner Was “In His Pocket”
Alex Emmons, Ryan Grim, Clayton Swisher
March 21 2018, 5:09 p.m.
Photo: The White House/flickr
Until he was stripped of his top-secret security clearance in February,
presidential adviser Jared Kushner was known around the White House as one of
the most voracious readers of the President’s Daily Brief, a highly classified
rundown of the latest intelligence intended only for the president and his
closest advisers.
Kushner, who had been tasked with bringing about a deal between Israel and
Palestine, was particularly engaged by information about the Middle East,
according to a former White House official and a former U.S. intelligence
professional.
In June, Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman ousted his cousin, then-Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Nayef, and took his place as next in line to the throne, upending
the established line of succession. In the months that followed, the
President’s Daily Brief contained information on Saudi Arabia’s evolving
political situation, including a handful of names of royal family members
opposed to the crown prince’s power grab, according to the former White House
official and two U.S. government officials with knowledge of the report. Like
many others interviewed for this story, they declined to be identified because
they were not authorized to speak about sensitive matters to the press.
In late October, Jared Kushner made an unannounced trip to Riyadh, catching
some intelligence officials off guard. “The two princes are said to have stayed
up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights, swapping stories and planning strategy,”
the Washington Post’s David Ignatius reported at the time.
What exactly Kushner and the Saudi royal talked about in Riyadh may be known
only to them, but after the meeting, Crown Prince Mohammed told confidants that
Kushner had discussed the names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince,
according to three sources who have been in contact with members of the Saudi
and Emirati royal families since the crackdown. Kushner, through his attorney’s
spokesperson, denies having done so.
“Some questions by the media are so obviously false and ridiculous that they
merit no response. This is one. The Intercept should know better,” said Peter
Mirijanian, a spokesperson for Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell.
On November 4, a week after Kushner returned to the U.S., the crown prince,
known in official Washington by his initials MBS, launched what he called an
anti-corruption crackdown. The Saudi government arrested dozens of members of
the Saudi royal family and imprisoned them in the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, which
was first reported in English by The Intercept. The Saudi figures named in the
President’s Daily Brief were among those rounded up; at least one was
reportedly tortured.
The Saudi Embassy did not respond to questions from The Intercept. The White
House referred questions to National Security Council spokesperson Michael
Anton. Anton declined to comment, referring questions on Kushner’s discussions
with MBS to Lowell.
It is likely that Crown Prince Mohammed would have known who his critics were
without Kushner mentioning them, a U.S. government official who declined to be
identified pointed out. The crown prince may also have had his own reasons for
saying that Kushner shared information with him, even if that wasn’t true. Just
the appearance that Kushner did so would send a powerful message to the crown
prince’s allies and enemies that his actions were backed by the U.S. government.
One of the people MBS told about the discussion with Kushner was UAE Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, according to a source who talks frequently to
confidants of the Saudi and Emirati rulers. MBS bragged to the Emirati crown
prince and others that Kushner was “in his pocket,” the source told The
Intercept.
Access to the President’s Daily Brief is tightly guarded, but Trump has the
legal authority to allow Kushner to disclose information contained in it. If
Kushner discussed names with MBS as an approved tactic of U.S. foreign policy,
the move would be a striking intervention by the U.S. into an unfolding power
struggle at the top levels of an allied nation. If Kushner discussed the names
with the Saudi prince without presidential authorization, however, he may have
violated federal laws around the sharing of classified intelligence.
On November 6, two days after the detentions in the Ritz began, Trump took to
Twitter to defend the crackdown:
In the months that followed, the arrestees were coerced into signing over
billions in personal assets to the Saudi government. In December, the
London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that Maj. Gen.
Ali al-Qahtani had been tortured to death in the Ritz. Qahtani’s body showed
signs of mistreatment, including a neck that was “twisted unnaturally as though
it had been broken,” bruises, and “burn marks that appeared to be from electric
shocks,” the New York Times reported earlier this month.
Senior U.S. government officials have long worried about Kushner’s handling of
sensitive foreign policy issues given his lack of diplomatic experience. They
have also raised concerns about the possibility that foreign officials might
try to influence him through business deals with his family’s real estate
empire. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly examining Kushner’s
business ties as part of his ongoing probe.
The Washington Post reported this week that former Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster “expressed early concern
that Kushner was freelancing U.S. foreign policy.” According to the Post,
Tillerson once asked staffers in frustration: “Who is the secretary of state
here?”
Indeed, Kushner has grown so close to the Saudi and Emirati crown princes that
he has communicated with them directly using WhatsApp, a reasonably secure
messaging app owned by Facebook and popular in the Middle East, according to a
senior Western official and a source close to the Saudi royal family.
Asked about Kushner’s use of WhatsApp to communicate with foreign officials,
his attorney’s spokesperson Mirijanian said, “Without commenting on who he
talks with and how he does his work, Mr. Kushner is in conformity with the
Presidential Records Act and other rules.” Kushner’s attorneys have since told
him not to use the app for official business, according to a source with direct
knowledge of the exchange.
Kushner’s unconventional communications with regional leaders excluded
diplomats during the summer of 2017, when Saudi Arabia and the UAE initiated an
economic blockade aimed at weakening their Gulf neighbor Qatar. Tillerson’s
attempts to mediate the crisis were quickly undercut by Trump and Kushner, who
supported the blockade. Three State Department officials told The Intercept
that Tillerson was largely in the dark about Kushner’s communications with MBS
during that period.
In the wake of MBS’s crackdown in Saudi Arabia, the National Security Council’s
policy coordination committee suggested that Tillerson intervene and try to
reason with the crown prince, according to a former White House official and a
former State Department official. Tillerson declined, telling colleagues doing
so would be “pointless” given that Kushner was already in close and direct
contact with him.
The National Security Council’s Middle East adviser, retired U.S. Army Col.
Michael Bell, has also complained in recent months that he was out of the loop
on the Gulf crisis and the Arab-Israeli conflict, the former White House
official said. Bell has told colleagues that Kushner frequently micromanaged
those subjects through direct interaction with regional leaders, without
offering Bell any worthwhile readout on their interactions.
Bell, speaking through National Security Council spokesperson Anton, denied
that Kushner has kept him out of the loop and said he respects Kushner’s lead
role in the region.
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 6: A Kushner Companies logo is visible near an entrance to
the Kushner Companies' flagship property 666 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan,
March 6, 2018 in New York City. Kushner Companies, run by the family of White
House senior adviser Jared Kushner, has been trying to raise funds for their
$1.2 billion dollar mortgage on the building that is due in February 2019. The
Kushners bought the property for $1.8 billion in 2006. Many real estate
analysts say that they Kushners vastly overpaid for the property. (Photo by
Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
A Kushner Companies logo is visible near an entrance to the Kushner Companies’
flagship property 666 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, March 6, 2018, in New
York City.
Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Kushner’s support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Qatar in the Gulf crisis
has raised questions about a possible conflict of interest. Kushner backed the
blockade a month after Qatar’s ministry of finance rebuffed an attempt by
Kushner’s real estate firm, Kushner Companies, to extract financing for the
firm’s troubled flagship property at 666 Fifth Avenue.
In 2007, Kushner bought the landmark Manhattan building for $1.8 billion,
putting down $500 million in cash raised largely by selling thousands of rental
units the family had owned in New Jersey. It was widely regarded as overpriced
at the time, and when the financial crisis hit, the value plummeted, wiping out
much of the initial investment. The clock is now ticking toward a February 2019
deadline when a major mortgage payment will come due.
Since 2011, Kushner and his relatives have been searching the globe for a new
investor. As recently as the spring of 2017, Charles Kushner, Jared’s father,
asked former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani to invest
in the building. Then in April 2017, Charles Kushner made a direct pitch to the
Qatari government through the country’s minister of finance.
Qatar rejected the deal as not financially viable. In May, Trump traveled to
Riyadh with Kushner, where the famous glowing orb photo was taken. In the wake
of the meeting, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and a handful of allied countries
announced the blockade of rival Qatar, accusing it of fomenting terror. The
crisis continues today.
“We could not understand why the Trump administration was so firmly taking the
Saudis’ side in this dispute between the Saudis, the Emiratis, and Qatar,
because the United States has very important interests in Qatar,” Sen. Chris
Murphy, D-Conn., told George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC’s “This Week,” after
The Intercept reported on Kushner Companies’ efforts to obtain financing from
Qatar. Murphy was referring to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, home of U.S. Central
Command, where thousands of U.S. troops are stationed.
“If the reason this administration put U.S. troops at risk in Qatar was to
protect the Kushners’ financial interests, then that’s all the evidence you
need to make some big changes in the White House,” Murphy said.
MBS is in Washington this week. On Tuesday, he was warmly received by Trump,
who told reporters that the U.S.-Saudi relationship is “probably the strongest
it’s ever been.”
Top photo: Mohammed bin Nayef and Mohammad bin Salman with Jared Kushner and
Ivanka Trump on May 20, 2017, at the Royal Court Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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